I ran into Ted Demme is a Santa Monica bookstore while he was on a promotional tour with Johnny Depp vehicle Blow; he was about as unpretentious a film-director as you could imagine, friendly and self-deprecating. He died the following year, robbing cinema of a promising voice. I was embarrassed at the time to gush over his 1996 drama Beautiful Girls, but looking back on our 3rd Street Promenade stroll, I’m glad I gave him both barrels in terms of praise, because it’s a favourite movie of mine.
The male POV in movies is often an excuse for locker-room talk, female objectification and violence. Scott Rosenberg’s script for Beautiful Girls contains all of these things, but turns it upside down to provide a caustic, unsentimental view of male immaturity. Timothy Hutton toplines as Willie, a piano player who returns home from NYC to find his old buddies haven’t changed; Matt Dillon, Michael Rappaport are amongst those contributing neat portraits of guys who defiantly refuse to outgrow their home-town of Knight’s Ridge, Massachusetts, where the snow is deep and the bars are busy. Tommy (Dillon) is cheating on Sharon (Mira Sorvino) while Paul (Rappaport) unwisely plans a date with out-of-towner Uma Thurman. But Willie has changed, and has his girlfriend arriving soon; he feels pulled back by the inertia of his friends, and conflict ensues.
The key character isn’t mentioned above; Natalie Portman, at 13, plays Marty, the girl next door, who Willie realises will turn into the kind of beautiful girl that his friends idolise; through a platonic friendship, Willie realises the dangers of objectifying women, and adjusts his world-view accordingly. Willie attempts to defuse the chaos impending due to Tommy’s infidelity, but ends up stoking passions by crashing a snow-plow into a car-load of thugs in a rousing scene.
Rosenberg has gone on to anonymous work on big films (Jumanji, Venom), but displays a gift for fresh dialogue, notably the way that the women (including Martha Plimpton and a strident Rosie O’Donnell) talk. He understands that the party is over for these men, no matter how many shots they drink; if they can’t sustain a relationship, their days as men-about-town are numbered.
Returning home is a classic theme that worked for Garden State amongst others, but Beautiful Girls has a relaxed charm that sets it apart from most 90’s movies. A cheap and cheerful £2.49 to rent on Prime, it’s a minor gem, filled with stars, comic incident, and insight; the kind of salty, self-aware movie that nobody seems to make these days.
Thanks to Studio Canal for access to this film.
For some reason, I remember having this soundtrack as there were alt-rock bands on it?
Afghan Whigs I think, they feature in the film playing a gig…and some oldies too…
That’s it! Yes.
The cast alone makes me want to check this one out, but your recommendation and the notion it’s a favorite movie of yours only more. As for this: “the kind of salty, self-aware movie that nobody seems to make these days“….so true, and I wonder why sometimes 😢😔
Rosenberg said he wrote this in five days, and I think it’s a case of a writer writing what they know. It’s a film that stuck with me, so if you get a chance, see it!
Maybe.
They’ll want that quote for the poster.
Maybe.
Is Rosy Odonnell ever anything BUT strident?
She literally dresses down every male character in this film for their chauvanism, hitting her stride in terms of the stridency that has made her a icon for the strident.